Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Here are examples of how to name numbers in informal English. Table of contents 1 Cardinal numbers 2 Ordinal numbers 3 Dates 4 Fractions and decimals 5 Whether to use digits or words Cardinal numbers 0 zero 1 one 2 two 20 twenty 3 three 30 thirty 4 four 40 forty (there is no "u") 5 five 50 fifty 6 six 60 sixty 7 seven 70 seventy 8 eight 80 eighty (there is only one "t") 9 nine 90 ninety 10 ten 11 eleven 12 twelve 13 thirteen 14 fourteen 15 fifteen 16 sixteen 17 seventeen 18 eighteen (there is only one "t") 19 nineteen If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, you write the number as two words separated by a hyphen. 21 twenty-one 25 twenty-five 32 thirty-two 58 fifty-eight 64 sixty-four 79 seventy-nine 83 eighty-three 99 ninety-nine In English, the hundreds are perfectly regular. 100 one hundred 200 two hundred 300 three hundred 400 four hundred 500 five hundred 600 six hundred 700 seven hundred 800 eight hundred 900 nine hundred So are the thousands, up to nine thousand. 1,000 one thousand 2,000 two thousand 3,000 three thousand 4,000 four thousand 5,000 five thousand 6,000 six thousand 7,000 seven thousand 8,000 eight thousand 9,000 nine thousand Starting with 10,000, the numbers become difficult. 10,000 ten thousand 11,000 eleven thousand 12,000 twelve thousand 13,000 thirteen thousand 14,000 fourteen thousand 15,000 fifteen thousand 16,000 sixteen thousand 17,000 seventeen thousand 18,000 eighteen thousand 19,000 nineteen thousand 20,000 twenty thousand 21,000 twenty-one thousand 30,000 thirty thousand 85,000 eighty-five thousand 100,000 one hundred thousand 999,000 nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand 1,000,000 one million In informal English, people very rarely name exact numbers larger than one million, except for dramatic effect. There is more than one way of forming intermediate numbers. One way is for when you are counting something. Another way is for when you are using numbers as labels. "How many marbles do you have?" "What is your house number?" 101 "A hundred and one." "One-oh-one." Here, "oh" is used for the digit zero. 109 "A hundred and nine." "One-oh-nine." 110 "A hundred and ten." "One-ten." 117 "A hundred and seventeen." "One-seventeen." 120 "A hundred and twenty." "One-twenty." 152 "A hundred and fifty-two." "One-fifty-two." 208 "Two hundred and eight." "Two-oh-eight." 334 "Three hundred and thirty-four." "Three-thirty-four." NOTE: When writing a check: The number 100 is always written "one hundred". It is never "a hundred". Here are some approximate large numbers in English: Quantity Written Pronounced 1,200,000 1.2 million one point two million 3,000,000 3 million three million 250,000,000 250 million two hundred and fifty million 1,000,000,000 1 billion one billion (a billion is 1000 times 1 million) 6,400,000,000 6.4 billion six point four billion 1,000,000,000,000 1 trillion one trillion (a trillion is 1 million times 1 million) Ordinal numbers Here are some ordinal numbers. 0th zeroth (very rarely used) 1st first 2nd second 20th twentieth 3rd third 30th thirtieth 4th fourth 40th fortieth 5th fifth 50th fiftieth 6th sixth 60th sixtieth 7th seventh 70th seventieth 8th eighth (only one "t") 80th eightieth 9th ninth (note spelling) 90th ninetieth 10th tenth 11th eleventh 12th twelfth (note spelling) 13th thirteenth 14th fourteenth 15th fifteenth 16th sixteenth 17th seventeenth 18th eighteenth 19th nineteenth Ordinal numbers such as 21st, 33rd, are formed by combining a CARDINAL ten with an ORDINAL unit. 21st twenty-first 25th twenty-fifth 32nd thirty-second 58th fifty-eighth 64th sixty-fourth 79th seventy-ninth 83rd eighty-third 99th ninety-ninth Higher ordinals usually are not written in words. They are written using digits and letters, as described below. Here are some rules you should remember. If you are Japanese, please read this. If the tens' digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9311th. If the tens' digit is NOT equal to 1, then use the following table: If the units' digit is: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 write this after the number th st nd rd th th th th th th For example, 2nd, 7th, 20th, 23rd, 52nd, 135th, 301st. Dates Years before 2000 are read as follows: 1066 ten sixty-six 1492 fourteen ninety-two 1500 fifteen hundred 1502 fifteen oh two (note the "oh" for zero) 1776 seventeen seventy-six 1990 nineteen ninety The year 2000 is read "two thousand". Years after 2000 have no set system as of yet for expressing them. I call the year 2003 "two thousand and three". Note that years are NEVER read as ordinal numbers!! Dates usually do not use "st", "nd", etc., after the day of the month; however, it is always pronounced with the "st" or whatever. Examples: I am writing this example on Jan. 2, 2003 (January second, two thousand and three). The Twin Towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001 (September eleventh, two thousand and one). Fractions and decimals Here are some common fractions: 1/16 one-sixteenth 1/10 or 0.1 one-tenth 1/8 one-eighth 2/10 or 0.2 two-tenths 1/4 one-quarter or one-fourth 3/10 or 0.3 three-tenths 1/3 one-third 3/8 three-eighths 4/10 or 0.4 four-tenths 1/2 one-half 6/10 or 0.6 six-tenths 5/8 five-eighths 2/3 two-thirds 7/10 or 0.7 seven-tenths 3/4 three-quarters or three-fourths 8/10 or 0.8 eight-tenths 7/8 seven-eighths 9/10 or 0.9 nine-tenths 15/16 fifteen-sixteenths Numbers with a decimal point are usually read as a whole number, then "point", then digits. For example: 0.002 is "zero point zero zero two" 3.1416 is "three point one four one six" 99.3 is "ninety-nine point three" (notice I used the word "ninety") Fractions together with an integer are read as follows: 1 1/2 is "one and a half" 6 1/4 is read as "six and a quarter" 7 5/8 is "seven and five eighths" See also English-language numerals. Whether to use digits or words According to your friendly neighborhood copy editor and/or English teacher, the numbers zero through nine should be "written out"--meaning instead of "1" or "2" you would write "one" or "two." Example: "I have two apples." (Correct) Example: "I have 2 apples." (Incorrect) After "nine," you can head straight back into the 10, 11, 12, etc. Example: "I have 28 grapes." (Correct) Example: "I have twenty-eight grapes." (Incorrect) The above rules are not always used. In literature, larger numbers might be spelled out (authors getting paid by the word, perhaps?). This article is from Wikipedia. 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